


The Scorpion of Jakku

by AstridMyrna



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Smut, F/M, Slow Burn, Tale as Old as Time, Tropes, burn as slow as fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 17:24:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14193927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstridMyrna/pseuds/AstridMyrna
Summary: Every day is the same for Rey of Jakku: wake up, scavenge, clean, sell, eat, mark the day, and sleep. Not much changes throughout the day, and even the occasional scuffle have become mundane at this point, until a man dressed in all black arrives to trade for parts at a much better price than Unkar Plutt. As far as Rey knows, he has no name save for the one the other traders have given him: the Scorpion.





	The Scorpion of Jakku

**Author's Note:**

> *sips tea*  
> This has been on my mind for a while but I didn't know how to start, but then I saw the "Tale as Old as Time/Burn as Slow as Fuck" tags so I decided to make this an actual, honest to god slow burn. That said, I normally don't ask this, but I could really use any feedback/comments on the work to help me plod along. There is no outline. There is no goal post. There is only sand, and it's dangerous to cross the desert alone.
> 
> Tags will change as I add to the story. Thanks for reading!

The sun was hot and good salvage was scarce, which wasn't all that unusual in this miserable corner of Jakku. Rey toiled through the day with the same eager persistence as she had after her parents left her with Unkar Plutt when she was a small child. Well, probably not the same. When she was young she cried a lot and nearly starved to death as she wallowed in her grief, but now there were few things worth crying about. Every day that came to pass was another day that brought her closer to her parents. She was an adult now, a hard worker, and more than worth her keep. They would be coming back soon.

In the meantime, there was scrap to be collected and cleaned and traded for portions that grew ever more expensive. Today's junk heap earned her a half portion that day. Rey hid it away in her sack, and she should have headed directly back home, but she had the energy to browse under the open-air stands. Today she let her vanity take her to jewelry stand, where beautiful creations of wire and stone laid out on a thick white length of cloth. Her eyes immediately drew to the most expensive piece, an opal necklace so fine that it sat above its brothers on the table. Caged in a thin curl of copper wire, the opal exploded with color like an unending firework show. The seller, a cream-skinned Abednendo, raked his fingers through his fluffy white side burns and chuckled at Rey.

"Looking for something to catch the eye of your true love?" he asked, and laughed again when Rey rolled her eyes. "Ah, where is your sense of romance, Rey?"

"I'll let you know when I find it in an old star destroyer, Yatsa. That's a good line, though. I'm sure someone will buy it soon. Where did you find the stone?"

"That is a secret only for other jewelers and paying customers to know about."

Rey sighed and shook her head at him. She knew other scavengers who descended upon his wares the moment they had the credits or portions, but Rey couldn't look past the impracticality of it. With her luck, she'd either lose it on a dig or keep it in her AT-AT to never be shown off or, like most things she treasured, get stolen. Taking one last look at the beautiful thing she could never own, Rey turned to head back home--and directly collided into a man's chest.

This wasn't just any man she ran into, though: even though he was human like herself, he was like a living shadow at nearly two heads taller than her and wearing only black robes. It was a wonder he hadn't collapsed from heatstroke, though when she looked up at his pale face partially hidden from his large hood, his cheeks were flushed and his lips cracked. He gazed down at her through the black veil of his stringy bangs with brown eyes that surprised her with their softness.

"Sorry," Rey said, but she couldn't move.

"You're a scavenger."

"....yes?"

"You trade with Unkar Plutt."

"Yes."

"When I return next week, show me what you find, and I'll pay you double what he offers you."

"All right."

He blinked. "Until next week."

He turned away, his cloak (in this heat, he wore a cloak!) fluttering behind him. Rey panted as if she held her breath throughout the exchange, and watched him disappear in the crowd.

"Who was that?" she asked Yatsa, holding on to his table for support.

"You haven't seen him before? He's been skulking around here for the last few weeks, stopping people in their tracks about one thing or another," Yatsa said as he straightened his other bracelets and rings. "No one knows his name, so we've been calling him the Scorpion. Guess Unkar has some competition, eh?"

Rey shook off the tingle that ran up her back as she replayed the encounter in her head. Any other time she would have simply ignored such a demand, but she did not want to move an inch until he left. Never had she felt so thrown off kilter by, from what she could tell, was a business proposal, but it was so mysterious that there  _had_ to be something more than just trading for junk for twice the portions.

No. No, no,  _nope_. As exciting as adventures were, she couldn't risk getting wrapped up in what was clearly an off-worlder's drama. Mystery, what mystery? Plenty of off-worlders came to Niima Outpost in search of spare parts. She was getting herself worked up over nothing. She told Yatsa good bye and marched towards home to go and eat her portion.

Yet before she left the Outpost, she took one last look back in case she'd spot a black hood towering above the crowd, and was disappointed when she didn't see it. The man had past through like a ghost, and she'd have to wait until the following week to see if Niima Outpost truly became his new haunt.

 


End file.
